racing in the light
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: "In one way or another, a part of Rey had been born before him and a part of her was terrified that she would be the first to die too."


**Notes: Written for day six of Reylo Week - _Fantasy_ , which also allowed for mythology. I went with an Ares/Aphrodite AU of sorts. Given their main characteristics, giving them the roles of gods of love and war seemed pretty fitting.**

 ** _References:_ I had _so_ much fun with the references in this one, honestly. Apart from the obvious ones about Ares and Aphrodite's origins, there are several mentions of their children, of which there are at least four. _Harmony_ refers to Harmonia, _fear_ and _dread_ to Phobos and Deimos respectively and _balance_ , to Adrestia - quite literally the ' _goddess of equilibrium, balance between good and evil_ '.**  
 **The choice of their Roman names leans a bit on the fourth wall with both the Ren/reign wordplay and the Kira situation, but Kira happens to be a variant of Ciara, which means dark-haired, hence the mention of it.**

* * *

In one way or another, a part of Rey had been born before him and a part of her was terrified that she would be the first to die too.

It wasn't the end of her own life that worried her – gods rarely ever died for good and she would still be a presence in the world in some shape of form – but the end of what it stood for. If that was lost, then slowly, gradually, everything else would die out as well.

It hadn't always been this way. For a long time, yes, but not always. Rey would have asked herself what had gone wrong, but she didn't need to – the world had just been _meant_ to exist like this and the questions surrounding _that_ were ones not even a goddess could answer.

* * *

"You make me so angry sometimes." It wasn't an admonishment by now; only a tired sigh, just loud enough for him to hear as Rey sat up on the bed. The satin and lace pooled around her waist and they were soon followed by touch, whisper-light and as gentle as it was demanding. "You make _everyone_ so angry."

There was mirth in Ben's dark eyes as he came into her field of vision again. This specific kind of joy was ever-present with him for as long as she'd know him ( _forever_ ), the darkness mixed with something much wilder and untameable. They were still half-turned towards one another, pushing together and pulling apart, dual suns pulling an entire planet in with their gravity. "I was under the assumption that that's the entire _point_ of me."

It was an ugly truth, but the truth nevertheless. Being able to see the world in its entirety in every waking second was one of godhood's heaviest curses and Rey would have been able to bear it more easily if it hadn't been for him, but he was right – it was in his nature and from then on, in the nature of every living thing. "You could still—"

"What? Stop them? People don't _need_ me to start wars." Long, pale fingers cupped her cheek, tilted her face up towards him again. "They always start them on their own. I feed their anger, their hate, the fire that drives them to keep doing it again and again, but we both know what's under it all."

Rey let herself be kissed when he leant in even further; let her hands tangle in his hair and pressed herself closer until she knew all it did was prove his point. _Yes_ , _yes_. Ever since she'd met him, weapon already dripping blood at the very dawn of the world, she had known what he was at his core – and what he'd been born from. It must be a difficult life, she'd always thought, to try and breathe with a festering wound in your heart and your mind and know that it was there to stay.

"Love," Ben breathed against her lips and there was something almost hungry in the declaration. "For their families, their lovers, their homes. Love can be a violent, possessive thing with the way humans use it."

"Not just humans."

"No," he agreed and laughed when Rey pressed him back against the lavish headboard of her bed, "not just humans."

Maybe there were truths she would have preferred not to have to face after all.

~.~

Ben could still remember the first time they'd met.

The world had been young back then, just young enough for him to be present for the first real strife between mortals. It had started as an argument and had evolved into bloodshed before long and that was when she'd arrived. It had all begun with a conflict over a piece of land one of the humans had built his home on and that the other wanted and he'd felt the undercurrent of care beneath the anger; the determination that this was the only safe place for them to settle down with the people they loved.

Later, it would make perfect sense that Rey had joined him when she had, but he hadn't known any of that back then. She had been a vision in the empty field between them, dressed in nothing but a thin veil she seemed to have picked up from one of the women in the settlement and the sea foam that still clung to her skin. He'd thought her to be like him at first as she'd arrived just moments later, but had soon been proven wrong – this was something else. _She_ was something else and he'd only understood when she'd approached him, looking as young and lost as he felt.

"They're so violent," she'd said and in her voice, there was none of the detachment that the other gods seemed to feel towards the creatures that had been born alongside them. "And they feel so much."

"It's _what_ they feel that's important," Ben had informed her. He'd thought he'd known so much back then and looking back, that hadn't been exactly the case. They'd both been so _new_ ; still nameless and as distanced from humanity as they would ever be, which didn't amount to very much to begin with. "That's the reason we exist."

"I sensed that too," Rey had nodded, still lingering by his side as they watched the people in front of them get more and more agitated. Her smile, when it appeared, was hesitant. _So lonely_ , he couldn't help but think, because of the way she'd been born – so far away from the others like her, somewhere out in the open sea. "I have a feeling we'll meet a lot in the future."

Ben had nodded, intertwining their hands before she'd had the chance to pull away. He'd thought the exact same thing; it had to be a good sign. Between the two of them, there was _so_ much that could be born. "I think you're right."

They'd never really been proven wrong.

~.~

They'd called themselves so many different things over the millennia that some of them would have melted together in Rey's mind by now if her memory had allowed it. But gods couldn't forget and she could see it all, all the way back to the time when all the names they'd had had been _love_ and _war_ for what always followed in their footsteps.

It had been then, when they hadn't known better, that harmony had come from their first union. Later, he'd named himself Ren and had let a budding country that would grow into an empire crown him as king and she had been Kira, the small, dark-haired rumoured to be witch queen that had whispered advice in his ear – sometimes bringing peace, sometimes even more terror. They'd given birth to more then, fear and terror and finally, balance, and had been indifferent to the consequences, possessed entirely by the power of a world that worshipped them.

The names they'd adopted now had been picked up in the last great war of humanity, when they'd roamed amongst humans for the longest time in the recent past. He had been just a soldier this time and she'd presented herself as a nurse, spreading around hope and life and the beginnings of happiness while he managed to spill even more blood than he was used to. Humbler positions, not royalty again – soon, though, they would both want it again soon – and maybe it had helped a little; brought some clarity to their minds.

"We are what we are," Ben shrugged. It had always been his excuse, but it felt nearly sincere by now. "And so are mortals. They'll keep slaughtering and loving each other no matter what we decide; all we can do is watch it happen. Maybe fan the flames some."

That was all gods ever did, wasn't it? Fanning the flames.

"What if it gets too much?" The cycle of life went on and on for them, of course, it was how they'd been created, but the thought had never truly left Rey alone. "What if they feel so much they end up killing themselves to the last person?"

" _Someone_ will survive, carry on their kind." Ben had never been too concerned for their subjects, no matter how close or far they were from them. "They couldn't possibly all die. But if it bothers you," he added and he was in her space again, hands on both sides of her head as he leant over her, "I can stop it from happening." His kisses were growing more heated now, doubtlessly from the images the idea inspired in his mind. "I can go to war with Death for you if it'll please you."

He could and he _would_ if she asked and it should have scared her. Perhaps it even would have before they'd known each other.

"Maybe it will." She responded to his embrace, arms wrapping against his neck to bring him even closer. "One day."

Beneath them, the world was still burning.

* * *

As long as she existed, so would he. It was a truth that Ben had accepted too long ago for the human mind to begin to comprehend. They _depended_ on each other, feeding into the urges that moved humanity forward in a vicious circle fuelled by everything they'd created together; a circle with no real beginning.

He was going to make sure it had no end, either.


End file.
